95% of 2020 Protests Were Peaceful, Despite Claims of Widespread Rioting

A recent social media post by "The Rabbit Hole" claimed that "over 500 riots in the summer of 2020 because of BLM, Antifa, and radical Woke Activists." This assertion regarding the nature of the 2020 demonstrations following the death of George Floyd warrants a closer look at available data and expert analysis.

Data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) indicates that between May 26 and August 22, 2020, there were over 7,750 demonstrations associated with the Black Lives Matter movement across the United States. A significant majority of these events, approximately 95% or more than 10,100 demonstrations, were peaceful, involving no violence or destructive activity. Fewer than 570 incidents, or about 5% of the total, involved demonstrators engaging in violence.

Further analysis by researchers at Princeton University and ACLED corroborated these findings, stating that 93% to 96.3% of the demonstrations were peaceful and nondestructive. While some protests did escalate into violence, vandalism, and looting, these incidents were largely localized and did not represent the overall character of the movement. Property Claim Services (PCS) estimated insured losses from the unrest at over $1 billion to $2 billion, marking it as the costliest civil unrest in U.S. history.

The involvement of specific groups like Antifa in instigating widespread violence has been a subject of debate. FBI Director Christopher Wray testified that Antifa is more of an ideology than an organization, and federal investigations found no evidence of a coordinated effort by Antifa to plot violence. Some local law enforcement officials, however, attributed certain violent acts to anarchists and far-left extremist groups. Notably, an individual dubbed the "Umbrella Man," initially suspected of being an agent provocateur, was later identified by police as having ties to white supremacist organizations and deliberately attempting to incite rioting.